Combination bed and couch.



No. GfiLZFU. Patented Nov. 6, I900. 8. G. USHER. COMBINATION BED AND COUCH.

(Apylication filed Aug. 2, 189B.)

(No Model.)

Unirrnn drains Parana union.

SETH G. LISHER, OF SHELBYVILLE, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO WILL F. GREEN, OF SAME PLACE.

COMBINATION BED AND COUCH.

$PECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 661,270, dated November 6, 1900.

Application filed August 2, 1898. Serial No. 687,545. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SETH G.LISHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Shelbyville, in the county of Shelby and State of Indiana,

have invented a new and useful Combination Bed and Couch, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is in the nature of a combi nation bed and couch provided with storage IO capacity which may be utilized as a ward robe, the object of the invention being to produce an article of this class which shall have the appearance and be capable of all the uses of a sofa or couch and may be readily transformed by simple adjustments into a perfect bed, the portion of the structure used as a wardrobe remaining in the same position in either adjustment.

With this object in view my invention conzo sists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically pointed out in the claim.

In order to enable others skilled in the art 2:5 to which my invention most nearly appertains to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, having reference to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating my invention adjusted to the form of a bed. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section through the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sec- 5 tion through the device adjusted to the form of a sofa or couch. Fig. at is a detail perspective view of the hinge for uniting the two parts of the spring-frame. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the wardrobe detached, one corner being broken away. Fig. 6 is a detail view, partly in elevation and partlyin section, illustrating the fastening for securing the wardrobe or bed-rail in position. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective view of the latch for securing the hinged wings to the back of the wardrobe.

Like numerals of reference indicate the same parts wherever they occur throughout the various figures of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings by numerals, 10 indicates one end, and 11 the other end, of a sofa or couch. To each of these ends is hinged at the rear a wing, as at 12 and 13, the wings being provided with legs of the same length as the legs of the ends 10 and 11, so that all of the legs will at all times rest upon the floor. In the inner faces of the ends 10 and 11 are formed or cut recesses 14, across which are pins 15 to be engaged by hooks 16, secured in the ends of rails 17 and 18. These may be ordinary bed-rails or they may form, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5, the front and back of a wardrobe or box to hold clothing, illus-' trated in detail in Fig. 5 as consisting of the front and back 17 and 18 referred to, ends 19 and 20, and bottom 21. The wardrobe thus constructed is provided with a hook 16 at each end of its front and back and may be secured in position between the two ends 10 and 11 by the hook-and-pin fastening be fore described or by any other ordinary bedfastener, whereby it may be rigidly, but removably, secured. The ends 10 and 11. and the wings 12 and 13 are each provided with a horizontal 'cleat on the inside, the cleats of the ends 10 and 11 being marked 22 and the cleats of the wings 12 and 13 being marked 23. When the device is in the adjustment in which it forms a sofa, the wings 12 and 13 are bent inward at right angles to the ends 10 and 11 and form a support for the backcushion of the sofa, the seat-cushion resting upon the cleats 22, the rear bed-rail or the rear or back of the wardrobe being made lower than the front to accommodate the cleats 23 of the wings 12 and 13, whereby they may be folded closely against the wardrobe or bed-rail. In this position the wings are secured by latch-bars 24, which engage springcatches 25, projecting rearwardly from the 0 back rail 18, as best shown in detail in Fig. 7.

In order to adjust the device into the form of a bed, it is only necessary to disengage the latch-bars 21 from the catches 25 and carry the wings around on their hinges until they 5 project rearwardly in line with the heads 10 and 11, which will bring their cleats 23.in the rear of and in line with the cleats 22 of the heads, in which position they support the rear portion of the spring-frame or mattress-frame, as clearly shown in Fig; 2. wThe rear ends of the cleats 22 extend a short distance to the rear of the seat-cushions, so as to form a support for the front edge of the back portion when in a horizontal position, and thus take the strain off the hinges at the ends. The rear edge of the seat-cushion terminates at a distance in front of the wings equal to the thickness of itself, so that when the rear or back cushion stands in a vertical position its bottom portion will lie in the same plane with the rear edges of the head and foot boards and will rest against the wings when they are folded around against said cushion. In this manner neither one.of the cushions need be any wider than to extend from the hinge to the top or front of the sofa, respectively, thereby utilizing the entire surface of the cushions in either position and also permitting of the use of springs in each section with a sharp bend at the fold, thereby avoiding the curved crease that arises from trying to bend a thick mattress.

One of the great advantages of my invention is that an ordinary folding spring-mattress may be used to form the seat and back cushions of the sofa and the mattress of the bed, such folding spring-mattress being usually composed of two longitudinal sections united at their central top line by any ordinary or approved construction of hinge, so that these sections may be folded one upon the other or spread out in the same horizontal plane when desired. In constructing my invention, however, I use two base-frames composed of side bars 26 and 27 and end bars 28 and 29. To the end bars 28 and 29, one of which forms the end bar of each of the sections of the mattress, are secured hinges consisting of elbow-shaped bars 30 and 31, the horizontal arms of which are rigidly secured to the end bars, while the vertical arms are turned upward and extend to a level with the top of the spring-mattress frame when in its normal position, said vertical arms being bent toward each other and overlapped at their upper ends, where they are pivotally connected by pins 32 in line normally with the hinge connections between the two sections of the folding spring-mattress.

From the foregoing description the construction and operation of my invention will be readily understood, and it will be obvious that to transform the device from a sofa or couch to abed it will only be necessary to release the latch-bars 24 from the catches 25, as before stated, and to drop the section of the folding mattress which has formed the back-cushion of the sofa into horizontal alinement with and in the rear of the sections which form the seat of the sofa or couch, and to again transform the device into a sofa or couch it is only necessary to raise the rear section into its vertical position and swing the wings 12 and 13 in their position at right angles to the heads or ends 10 and 11, in which position they support the back-cushiou and are retained by the latch-bars and catches. By means of the construction described the whole device may be readily taken apart and packed into compact form for storage or transportation and may be as readily placed into position to form either the sofa or couch or the bed, as may be desired.

Access may be had to the wardrobe by raising the seat-cushion when the device is in the form of a sofa or by raising the front sec tion of the bed, which is the same section which formed the seat-cushion.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

In a combined bed, sofa and wardrobe, the combination with the end pieces, each of which is provided with awing and a cleat, of a box provided at its ends with means for engaging with said end pieces and having its rear edge below the cleats on the wings when they are folded, catches on the rear of the box for engaging with the wings, a folding spring-mattress on the 'cleats, each end of which is provided with a hinge comprising two elbow-shaped bars, the joint of which is even with the top of the mat-tress, and the rear edge of the front portion of which mattress terminates forwardly of the rear end of the cleats on the main portion of the end pieces and at a distance in front of the wings equal to the thickness of the mattress.

SETH G. LISHER.

Witnesses:

WM. R. WOLF, H. O. MOORE. 

